Doctors at Lviv’s First Medical Association have performed a unique ALPPS operation on a 10-month-old boy’s liver, actually growing a part of it in the baby’s body.
According to the press service of the medical center, almost all of the baby’s organ was affected by a malignant tumor, and the proportion of healthy tissue was only 15%.
To save the patient, surgeons at St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital, which is part of Lviv’s First Medical Association, performed an extremely rare operation in world medicine – ALPPS, which involves cardinal resection, or almost complete removal of the liver.
The baby’s malignant tumor was detected at four months of age. The baby lost his appetite, stopped gaining weight, and his skin turned pale. Doctors at the St. Nicholas Hospital, which has the only Center for Cholestatic Diseases in Children in the western regions of Ukraine, found a huge 8 cm malignant liver tumor that had spread to all four sectors of the organ. Its main part was localized in the center, where the main vessels pass. Therefore, the boy was classified as a high-risk patient.
Preparation for the ALPPS surgery lasted about a month. During the first stage, the surgeons divided the liver into healthy and tumor-affected parts, and the vessels supplying the “diseased” area were compressed so that the tumor stopped growing, but the organ continued to perform its function. After the intervention, 15% of the separated healthy liver tissue quadrupled in size within a week after the surgery, so the doctors managed to grow enough tissue from a critical small volume for the next stage of the operation.
The neoplasm partially affected the inferior vena cava, which removes purified blood from the organ. During the second stage, the affected vein was replaced and the diseased part of the liver was completely removed. Now the boy continues to receive chemotherapy.
“The results of regular examinations are encouraging: the liver has regenerated to its full size and is working without fail. The boy finally regained his appetite and started to gain weight. In July, Demianchyk will celebrate his first birthday,” the medical center’s press service commented on the patient’s progress.
